Inspection Certificate

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The Inspection Certificate is a document issued by an authority indicating the goods have been inspected, particularly in accordance to a set of industry, customer, government or carrier specifications, prior to shipments and the results of the inspection.

Inspection Certificates are generally obtained from a neutral testing organizations e.g. either a government entity or independent surveying company. In some cases, the inspection certificate can come from the manufacturer or shipper but not from the forwarder or logistics company.

An Inspection Certificate should include the following details:
  1. Details, particularly of the consignor, consignee and the goods' description for the said shipment and other information to be in conformity with other documents e.g. documentary credit, commercial invoice, packing list, etc.
  2. Date of the inspection being made.
  3. Statement of sampling methodology.
  4. Statement of the results of the inspection.
  5. The name, signature and/or stamp or seal of the inspection entity.
Cautions and Notes

In the case of certain countries and certain commodities, the inspection certificate must be issued by an appropriate government agency or department. 

IN a documentary letter of credit, buyers should avoid the use of such terms like, "first class", "well-known", "qualified", "independent", "official", "competent" or "local" when referring to an acceptable inspection authority. It is preferable to agree beforehand as to a specific inspection organization or entity and for the buyer to name the required certifying organization or entity in the documentary credit.

The use of vague terminology (as mentioned above) will result in the bank's acceptance of any relevant document that appears "on its face" to be in compliance with the documentary credit, so long as it was not issued by the beneficiary (seller/exporter).

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